Star Trek actors, scientists and astronauts will all be on hand to help excite the public about space exploration at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. Image Credit: NASA

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla – With the shuttle era over, the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is focusing on the many amazing unmanned missions that launch just next door. The latest will be the Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory – better known as GRAIL. GRAIL is currently slated to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 17 this Thursday at 8:37 a.m. EDT.

The Visitor Complex has numerous events planned to coincide with the GRAIL launch. Scientists, Star Trek actors and even one of the twelve men who walked on the moon will be there to inspire, entertain – and inform. Here is what one can expect to see at the Visitor Complex on launch day.

8:37 a.m. – The launch of the twin GRAIL spacecraft on the last Delta II to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

1:30 p.m. Charlie Duke will be at the Space Shop signing copies of his book.

2:30 p.m. Star Trek’s Lieutentant Uhura, Nichelle Nichols, will celebrate the 45th anniversary of the first airing of the Star Trek series by signing autographs and taking photographs with visitors at a recreation of the bridge of the U.S.S. Enterprise from the television show that is currently on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

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Pushing the Boundaries of Propelling Deep Space Missions

Engineers at NASA’s Glenn Research Center are advancing the propulsion system that will propel the first ever mission to redirect an asteroid for astronauts to explore in the 2020s. NASA's Asteroid Redirect Mission will test a number of new capabilities, like advanced Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP), needed for future astronaut expeditions into deep space, including to Mars.
The Hall thruster is part of an SEP system that uses 10 times less propellant than equivalent chemical rockets. In a recent test, engineers from Glenn and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, using a Glenn vacuum chamber to simulate the space environment, successfully tested a new, higher power Hall thruster design, which is more efficient and has longer life. “We proved that this thruster can process three times the power of previous designs and increase efficiency by 50 percent,” said Dan Herman, Electric Propulsion Subsystem lead.
Hall thrusters trap electrons in a magnetic field and use them to ionize the onboard propellant. The magnetic field also generates an electric field that accelerates the charged ions creating an exhaust plume of plasma that pushes the spacecraft forward. This method delivers cost-effective, safe and highly efficient in-space propulsion for long duration missions. In addition to propelling an asteroid mission, this new thruster could be used to send large amounts of cargo, habitats and other architectures in support of human missions to Mars.
Image Credit: NASA
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